Cassandra Clare

Jen Lamoureux: Is there a character, costume, or set piece that you saw and thought ‘wow that is exactly how I pictured it?’  

I think the first time that I saw the City of Bones, I thought wow this is exactly how I pictured it. It’s…I don’t want to say too much about it, but it’s really amazing and incredibly detailed. Every little tiny piece of the set is different and it really felt like a real place to me.

Kimmy West: The story of City of Bones/Mortal Instruments was inspired by a trip you took to a tattoo shop. Do you have any tattoos, and are any inspired by your novels?

I do not have any tattoos, I have never been able to commit to a particular tattoo, unfortunately, but I would love to get a tattoo and I’ve been thinking that maybe when the movie comes out I’ll get one of the Runes.

Kimmy West: What inspired your awesome pen name?

It’s the name of Jane Austen’s sister and she used to write stories for her sister so that was the inspiration.

Amanda Bell: For your readers, what do you think the film is going to add to this/your story they already know and love so well?

Well I think that a film always adds another layer of meaning to a story the same way than a play adaptation or a piece of music inspired by a story adds another layer of meaning. A film is an interpretation of a book and so I think that it will provide people with an opportunity to see another interpretation to the book.

Katie Bartow: What scenes are you most excited to see?

I think that for me it would really be a tossup in terms of the scene that I’m most excited to see between Magnus’ Party and the Greenhouse scene with Clary and Jace that we all know and love.

Kallie Mathews: Is there a piece of advice you’ve given to a specific actor, in regard to their character, that surprised them?

I’m not sure that I’ve really given a piece of advice that really surprised them but I’ve certainly talked to them about giving themselves the freedom to interpret their characters the way that they see them and not to worry about trying to hue to any of the particular other interpretations that you can find. You know, every different fan has their own interpretation of what those characters are like and I really wanted the actors to feel like they should interpret the characters the way they saw them.

Alyssa Barbieri: What makes Harald Zwart the right director for this film?

I think Harald is the right director for this film because he is actually not a fantasy guy in the sense that he hasn’t done fantasy movies before. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t like fantasy, he is a fan, but he comes at the project from the point of view of someone who has always concentrated on the emotional relationships between characters in his work and so, in these stories he does the same, he concentrates on the emotional work between the characters, their different relationships, he’s very committed to underlining that every character has a relationship with every other character and I think it’s that kind of basis that’s required to make a fantasy feel real.

Erin Gross: Is it difficult releasing control of your story to a screenplay writer and letting someone else translate your words to the big screen?

Well I am a bit of a control freak so it is difficult to let go of a story and let someone else takeover their, you know with their interpretation of it, but, working with Constantin has been really great. They’ve certainly talked to me a lot, taken my opinion into account, and thought about the things that I have said. And at the end of the day, I am also excited, just as my readers are, to see the final product and ready to be surprised.

Amber Pruitt: When Lily was first cast as Clary, what advice did you give her for portraying the role?

When Lily was first cast as Clary, I was actually surprised, I didn’t realize they were going to cast her and so I think that I gave her the advice not to feel pressured by the idea that there were a lot of people who had investment in the character and who wanted to see the character portrayed this way or another way, not to get too hung up on people on wanting to make sure she had the right red color of hair or the right green color of eyes, but to try to capture what she felt was the intrinsic spirit of the character and I really believed in her ability to do that and from what I have seen, she has.